1. the make-up artist who let me borrow her earrings on the O’Reilly Factor
2. Marni Grossman’s sense of humor and storytelling skills
3. Professor Dennis Dalton, who is re-teaching me about idealism
4. chick peas, green tea, and brie cheese
5. second chances in friendships
6. my dad reading Virginia Woolf for the first time
7. days in Prospect Park that look like Ireland
8. babies on the train dressed in tiny snowsuits
9. my mom’s emails
10. my new glasses
11. resilience
12. how Nikolai’s hair looks in the morning
13. Title IX
14. childhood friends who still sense exactly what’s going on with me
15. my gaggle of mentors
16. Cold Play, I mean, my brother’s beautiful book
17. morning
18. night
19. Ramin’s brand new neice and nephew
20. macaroni & cheese
21. my education
22. my cousin Anna who helps people heal
23. my apartment
24. The Bluest Eye, Pearl, Appetites and every other life-changing book in my shelf
25. etc. etc. etc.
Your list?…
Courtney
Composing a Life
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 9:32 am and is filed under Career/Life, Generation Overwhelmed. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
There are currently 10 responses
1) My mother and father for creating me, deciding to keep me, loving me, raising me, fucking me up and helping me heal.
Jodyne for providing me with a home and family in LA
2) All of my friends for their love, support, mirroring, laughter and transparency
3) All of the people who feel they know me after reading my book and who are rooting for me in the world as a friend
4) Susan Shapiro for being so generous with me
5) My health, resilience and open heart
6) Jennifer Gandin Le who introduced me to Sfactor class, which I am loving
7) Julie Doughty for buying my book and helping me birth it
9) Jere Martin for helping me honor myself and my needs
10) My new therapist, who is kind and funny and empathetic and helpful
11) Marta and mushy
12) Everyone in writers group. Without you: I would be sad.
13) Massages
14) Hugs
15) Deep stares
16) Theo’s advice and insight
17) Kate’s new kitten Cleo
18) Courtney’s new apartment and shared lamp
19) Email
20) Safe flights
21) All the people in Orange County, Scottsdale, Detroit, Philly and NYC who came out to hear me read.
22) Reconnecting with old friends and making new friends
23) Alison Armstrong’s workshops
24) Jorma and Mari’s wedding
25) All the 8th grade girls in my Sister Circle group
26) Mediabistro for letting me be a teacher, a role I feel passionate about
27) Eric, for loving me and letting me go
28) The two tapestry fish, now hanging over my new couch
29) My diamond 9
30) My age
31) Text messages
32) My father, for watching Planet Earth with me and for always taking me out to a good meal
33) My mother, for staying with me, cleaning my bathroom, and always knowing when to ask me, gently, “Kimmi, are you about to get your period?”
34) The tree in Queens
35) Zoran’s Halloween party
36) Dancing, dancing, dancing
3+6=9, my favorite number
xo,
Kimmi
1. My friends
2. House plants
3. Rediscovering my record collection
4. Coffee with my wonderful friend Jess who always listens
5. Jabo, the kindest Labrador I know
6. Guts
7. Crucial Minutiae and the other blogs that remind me to stop what I am doing everyday to consider what’s around me.
8. Hand cream
9. My new pjs
10. Mom and Dad who call everyday to see what’s up…
11. The Philly Fanatic, the option of a cheese steak at 2:00 am and Lager for $2.
12. This American Life
13. My strong brothers and sister who have grown into amazing people.
14. Perfect Girls Starving Daughters – a book that changed everything
15. Walks around West Philly
16. Prentiss’ eye crinkles
17. A great yoga class
18. Spontaneous dance parties
19. The pace in Burlington Vermont (and the fact that there are no billboards on the highway there)
20. Cracking up
21. When Sarah M. reads the Brooklyn phone book in a funny old Jewish voice
22. Waking up without an alarm
23. Snuggles
24. New office supplies like pens
25. Law school and the doors it has opened
26. My best friend Debbie who has been by my side since 1986
27. Embracing the Scorpio inside
28. Cards
Thank you for the opportunity to make a list. I read this blog everyday and love it.
in no particular order…
1) A cool breeze on a warm autumn day
2) Musicians who transcend reality with their songs
3) The red LED light on my Blackberry that loosens my addiction to e-mail
4) Homemade gingerbread
5) my mom, who gave me life and shows me how to create anew everyday
6) my sister, who shares my memories and knows how to piss me off and still loves me
7) my step-siblings, for playing
8 ) my dad and stepmom, for my education
9) Chris, for being the best roommate ever
10) Courtney, Kimmi, Tara, Rachel, Lara, Heidi, Cheryl, Emily, and all the other powerful, magical women I love and call my friends-who-are-family
11) humanity’s endless curiosity about the natural world
12) S Factor and my rekindled love affair with my body
13) Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts
14) the satisfaction of organizing my living and work spaces
15) water, when I am thirsty
16) healthy, fresh, well-prepared food when I am hungry
17) an apartment with room to breathe, room to dream
18) my work supporting a fellow artist
19) perspective
20) appetite, desire
Thank you, Courtney, for the moment to reflect on my gratitude before the rush of the holiday.
Thanks Court! What a great post and opportunity to remind me of all the things in my life I have to be grateful for! Here’s a few…
1. The amazing view from my office window.
2. My little baby cousin who looks like the Grandpa I never met
3. My boyfriend moving from one thousand miles away—to now one mile away
4. My friend Jennifer whose friendship challenges me to examine the person I want to be daily
5. My wonderful, loving family for letting me be me
6. That we…”do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 15-16
7. Pilates and all the nice people in my class who say I’m a good teacher and those who help me improve.
8. My job!
9. Blue sky…almost everyday of the year
10. My amazing red mountain bike and the health/ability to ride it faster than the boys
11. Beth Moore’s heart and teaching
12. Thanksgiving! My favorite holiday for many reasons including family, football and the opportunity to eat turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce all in the same bite!
13. Hot apple cider
14. My relationship with my heavenly father
15. That I get to see my sister cousin on TV and feeling like she can see me as I roll my eyes at Laura Ingraham (while secretly laughing at the lipstick they put on her)
16. Hiking in the wilderness with people I love.
17. Having a sibling and the life gifts this relationship has produced
18. Working daily with those who live with chronic illness and reminding me to be thankful for my health.
19. My best friend who will drive 200 miles to help me decorate my new apartment.
20. Feeling peace in my life and mind.
Okay, now I’m teary. Thanks for thanking. Gratitude is such a drug. (The good legal kind.)
Great post and comments, yes, but hold up, hold up – you were on the O’Reilly Factor? When? How did it go? How was the punk when you were off-camera?
I’m gonna keep mine super short…I am so amazingly thankful for my friends and family, who are so there for me during one of the most exciting/depressing times of my life. I love you all.
And Kimmi, Cleo is so excited you gave her a shout-out.
[...] You can check out my list of gratefuls in the comments section of Courtney’s recent post. Please add your list. It will make you feel good, I [...]
[...] You can check out my list of gratefuls in the comments section of Courtney’s recent post. Please add your list. It will make you feel good, I promise. Listening is an Act of Love [...]
l. Technicolor New Mexican sunsets that never cease to amaze … like being handed free tickets to a beautifully produced show each night
2. Books, books and more books, but most of all my favorites of 2007 having been written by my beloved, smart, big-hearted and talented children (Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters and American Music…in case anyone needs a great holiday gift idea)
3. An embarrasment of riches in family, long time friends, new friends destined to be long time, and the encounters of countless lovely people along the journey
4. The feeling that change is on the way
5. Stories of any kind……visual, word, night poems, in person
6. Quiet
7. Nature
8. Spiritual contextualization for all
9. Laughter……anytime, anyway, politically incorrect, dark, silly, stupid, any variety that doesn’t hurt someone
10 The infinite capacity for love
11 Rock and Roll
12 Feeling forever 27 inside
13 The ability to still be surprised, to still trust and keep my heart open, to believe in the best and be able to handle the worst, and to wake up excited about the next adventure
14 Last and biggest thanks for having been given the blessing to travel all the adventures hand in hand with my best friend, sweetest love, best laugh producer, and dearest partner…….my first love, my last, my future and my past.
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